1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to time keeping mechanisms, specifically those that display a plurality of time information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, the advancement of the art of time keeping mechanisms has included devices and inventions mechanical, electromechanical, and electronic that improve the function of keeping time accurately. There has been innovation to decrease the amount of, or apply correction to, the error that occurs in these devices as they keep time. Individuals and firms hence have competed to produce the most accurate timepieces. This competition to produce accuracy has been directly and indirectly aided by the advancements in the arts of unrelated fields such as metallurgy, manufacturing, mechanical design, electronics, microelectronics, and microprocessor design. The fruits of this competition and collective advancement have been timepieces with time-keeping errors that are measured in fractions of a second per month.
Although trophies of human ingenuity, these super-precise instruments surpass ergonomic requirements. That is, the ratio of marginal utility to the marginal increase in accuracy becomes infinitesimal when considering contemporary timepieces. Humans typically estimate both the time of day and the amount of time it takes to complete tasks in quanta of minutes. In fact, most individuals function quite well by considering time in quanta of five minutes. The quest for accuracy has produced recent advancements that satisfy the aesthetic needs of individuals who wish to master the art of measuring time and the art of creating measuring devices. However, this quest has not produced timepieces that are that much more useful to humans in the way they think about time. That this aesthetic advancement has no real significance is evidenced by the commercial reality of super-precise movements in analog timepieces that lack numerical dials. Resolution of the actual time in minutes is often not possible with timepieces of this design.
The development of alarming timepieces represent an ergonomic advancement. The concept is ancient, and innovation has produced novel alarming methods. But aside from this progress, the art of time keeping has not advanced in directions that help humans in their presently evolved attitudes towards time measurement.
An unpublished study by the author has identified a significant proportion of the population that set their timepieces fast. One reason for this behavior is that certain people chronically underestimate the amount of time it takes to complete a given task. Some individuals typically underestimate by five to ten minutes, the length of time it takes to perform a task. Therefore, they find that they are habitually late by this same amount. In response, these people set their timepieces fast by the interval that they perceive that they are typically late by. For a short time they may be fooled by this maneuver. They believe that the fast time is the correct time. Hence when they are typically late by the fast time, they are punctual by the actual time. Some respondents in the study reported that they enjoy discovering the extra time to squeeze in more tasks before a deadline.
The present invention exemplifies a new and unobvious art of a randomly self-advancing timepiece that aides time management for individuals that enjoy setting their timepieces ahead. The invention features two displays for time information. The first display is continuously active and shows a time that is always fast. Furthermore, the amount by which this display reads fast varies randomly within a range that is specified by the user. The second display can be momentarily activated to indicate the actual time.